Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 23:06
Dear colleagues,
What we say, and the way we act, are direct reflections of our personal values and beliefs. Whether at home or work, our words and behaviours have an impact on our family, friends, and colleagues.
This week I shared a blog about why I believe this is so important for us as a workforce. At EEAST, we talk proudly about our five core values: Care; Quality; Honesty, Teamwork, and Respect. There is an expectation that as a member of the EEAST team you will hold true to these values. They are there to make all of us feel seen, heard and safe in the workplace. But there is also another expectation, that of our colleagues, who want to work with people who treat them with dignity and respect, making them feel like part of the team, whatever their role in the Trust.
Earlier this year, our three surveys on the experiences and perceptions of our BME colleagues, our LGBT+ people and colleagues living with a disability or neurodivergence, clearly highlighted the impact that poor behaviour, ignorance, and inappropriate comments can have on those around us. I am pleased to confirm that this week we took our Inclusivity Plan to People Committee and will now work to implement the work plan across the Trust to help EEAST being a more inclusive and representative Trust for all. A word of thanks to all the Networks and their membership, including staff side, for their input in helping develop our three years Inclusivity Plan.
We all want to be able to come to work and do our job to the very best of our ability, and this means being aware of the words we say, the tone we use and the way in which we behave with our colleagues. Being polite and respectful could help us to resolve, and even reduce, workplace conflicts early on and spending less time on employee relations cases means more time to focus on improving and developing the patient care we provide.
The Time to Lead programme has given us a chance to really live our values, with honest, frank conversations leading to changes that we all agree on and want to see succeed. Working in this way is improving our relationships and ability to progress as an organisation. However, we must also continue to call out those behaviours that we know to be unsafe, unfair or discriminatory, there’s a reminder here of how you can do that. We all have a responsibility to shape the organisation, it starts with each of us.
A year in review
As part of our CQC preparedness, we’ve published our ‘Year in Review’ on NTK this week (insert link). This has been created to showcase the progress and hard work from across the Trust against the actions that were set following our last inspection. It is extremely encouraging to see the steps we have already taken and the improvements we have made against each of the five Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) that we are inspected against. As this work continues, we will publish quarterly updates to the Year in Review so you can see how we are progressing.
Level up your leadership with new career development programme
There is an exciting and inclusive programme specifically designed for emerging leaders, to be launched in September (for leaders Band 8A and above). This is a Herts & West Essex ICS System wide programme, and a fantastic opportunity to advance leadership skills, and progress the careers, of mid-career professionals in organisations across the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS.
EEAST has been allocated 6 places for this programme and the expression of interest opens with the ICS on the 4th September 2023.
This programme offers the opportunity to progress to the highly acclaimed Accelerated Director Development Scheme (ADDS) and the prospect to develop into an executive director role within three to five years.
Those who will benefit the most are leaders:
You will not need any formal qualifications, but if you have undertaken development that has included elements of self and impact on others, and using reflective practice to learn and grow, then that’s a great benefit.
Speak to your line manager, if you would like to enrol for the ESLP development opportunity. The window for expressions of interest will open on Monday, 4 September. So, look out for further communications nearer the time, if you have any questions you can contact the team on: landd@eastamb.nhs.uk.
Developing our planning and resourcing
In last week’s message, Kate announced the launch of the Planning and Resourcing Transformation Programme. If you missed it, this is a two-year project reviewing how we resource and schedule across the Trust. The programme will be looking at moving away from localised systems to creating a centralised team with dedicated training and development, keeping in line with national requirements.
Formal consultation began last week and runs for 30 days, until early September, allowing colleagues who will be impacted the opportunity to review proposed plans and share their thoughts with the team leading the programme. You can now find more information about the project on East24 and you can access the full consultation document here.
Time to Lead
Work on the Time to Lead programme is ongoing. Thank you for all the engagement from colleagues so far. Every discussion, email and conversation is very much valued and appreciated.
The programme considers how best to invest in the leadership of our operational teams to deliver increased capacity and capability. The programme team have learned a lot of lessons throughout Time to Lead, particularly on how best to engage fully with teams to identify and develop the best outcomes.
Following our engagement period in July the Board agreed to introduce Team Leaders at Band 6 in response to the proposals received throughout engagement. The team have been working with operational colleagues to define these roles and review the job descriptions. Thank you to all those who have taken part in this work as this has been a positive working group.
The next steps are to finalise the sector structures by the end of August, and then move into the implementation phase. Once we have confirmed dates, we will return with more news on final structures and details of any forthcoming consultation period.
FTSU Training
Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) online training is available to complete via ESR/OLM, the aim is to normalise speaking up and creating a workplace where our people feel listened to. Although the ask is for everyone to complete the applicable modules of which there are three, in time to come these will become mandatory as a requirement from NHSE.
On ESR you will find the following FTSU modules:
Speak Up – for all staff
Listening Up – for all managers (Managers are to complete Speak Up and Listening Up)
Follow Up – for senior leaders (Senior leaders are to complete all three modules)
Keep an eye out for more information and the how to guide on Need to Know.
Wellbeing support for managers and their teams
A training course is now available for managers to help reduce the impact of work-related stress on themselves and their teams. The online session offers valuable information around identifying signs of stress, supporting staff and developing a work environment that encourages positive mental health. The sessions will be run once a month and you can find all the dates and times here.
Thank You Thursday
As always, we’re finishing with a thank you, and what better way to highlight the impact kind words can have. This message was for colleagues at Watford ambulance station.
‘They are angels. So well qualified and so professional, I cannot talk about them highly enough. I rank them highest of all the services and this comes from the heart. Thank you!’
Thank you from me, for all that you continue to do.
Hein Scheffer
Director of Strategy, Culture and Education
Published 17th August 2023